Funding from the National Institutes of Health will allow a Montana State University research team to deepen explorations into a disease that is posing an increasing threat in the United States.
Lyme disease is a bacterial infection transmitted by ticks, and nearly 90,000 cases in the United States were reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2023.
While previous Lyme disease vaccines have proved effective, said Patrick Secor, an associate professor in MSU’s Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology in the College of Agriculture, most versions require frequent boosters, making them less effective if people don’t receive them as often as they should.
Secor’s lab will use an NIH grant of $2.8 million over five years to study adaptations in the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, aiming to better illuminate how it circumvents its host’s immune system to establish infection.
PHOTO: Scientist in a lab looks at a microscope. (Adobe Stock │ #445991336 – aFotostock)
